Russia appoints new Air Force commander wanted by International Criminal Court

Lieutenant General Sergey Kobylash has been appointed the new commander of the Russian Air Force, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.

Kobylash, who was also appointed deputy commander-in-chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, served for eight years as the commander of the long-range aviation branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Kobylash replaces career serviceman and distinguished military pilot Lieutenant General Sergey Dronov as head of the Russian Air Force. Dronov had been in the post since July 2019.

In 2023, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) accused Kobylash and the former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Igor Osipov, of shelling civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. The SBU accused Kobylash of ordering mass air strikes on residential buildings, hospitals and critical infrastructure in Ukraine in 2022.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Kobylash and former Black Sea Fleet Commander Viktor Sokolov in March.

“Today, 5 March 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court … issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Sergey Ivanovich Kobylash and Mr Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, in the context of the situation in Ukraine for alleged crimes committed from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023,” the ICC wrote in a press release.